Business Briefs, 7/16/2013

NEW YORK - Citigroup is reporting earnings that beat Wall Street's expectations for the second quarter.

Profit for the March-to-June period was $3.9 billion after excluding an accounting gain, the bank reported Monday. That's up 26 percent from a year ago.

The profit amounted to $1.25 per share, beating the $1.18 per share predicted by analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue was $20 billion after excluding the accounting gain, up 8 percent from the same period a year ago. That beat the $19.8 billion predicted by analysts.

Ex-Goldman Sachs trader trial opens

NEW YORK - Jurors at a Manhattan trial of a former Goldman Sachs trader heard him described Monday both as an architect of a massive securities fraud and as a low-level scapegoat for the mortgage market meltdown that began in 2007.

Fabrice Tourre faces allegations from a 2010 lawsuit brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission against him and Goldman Sachs in what was called the most significant legal action related to the mortgage securities crisis that helped push the country into recession.

"This is a case about Wall Street greed," SEC lawyer Matthew Martins said in opening arguments at the federal civil trial. "In the end it was Wall Street greed that drove Mr. Tourre to lie and deceive."

Judge to rule on WTC, airlines suit

NEW YORK - A judge who has presided over most of the litigation stemming from the Sept. 11 attacks will decide whether the owners of the World Trade Center can try to make aviation companies pay billions of dollars in damages.

The trial will decide whether World Trade Center Properties and its affiliates can receive more than the $4.9 billion in insurance proceeds they have already recovered since the 9/11 attacks by terrorists who hijacked commercial airliners and flew them into the 110-story twin towers. The attacks led to the destruction of the towers as well as a third trade center building. U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein will rule after a hearing that started this week.

India sends its last telegram

NEW DELHI - India's last telegram went out late Sunday, marking the end of a service that millions of Indians had relied on for fast communication for more than 160 years.

Hundreds of people thronged the 75 telegraph offices remaining in the country to send their last telegrams to friends or family as a keepsake.

Ohio county had most drill waste

AKRON, Ohio - Booming energy production in shale formations has made a northeast Ohio county the top location in the state for underground injection of drilling wastes.

Portage County, home of Kent State University, had enough drilling wastes injected deep into the ground in 2012 to fill a train of tanker cars that would stretch nearly 37 miles, the Akron Beacon Journal reported Sunday.

Out-of-state shipments account for 57.6 percent of the waste going into Ohio's injection wells, up from 54 percent the previous year.

We welcome user discussion on our site, under the following guidelines:

To comment you must first create a profile and sign-in with a verified DISQUS account or social network ID. Sign up here.

Comments in violation of the rules will be denied, and repeat violators will be banned. Please help police the community by flagging offensive comments for our moderators to review. By posting a comment, you agree to our full terms and conditions. Click here to read terms and conditions.

Think you have the cutest pet in NEPA? Share a photo of your furry companion and you could win prizes from our sponsors! Deadline to submit an entry is March 19, and voting will take place from March 20-March 31.